Two-ply fabric for mattresses or the like



March 24, 1953 J MaclNTYRE 2,632,480

TWO-FLY FABRIC FOR MATTRESSES OR THE LIKE Filed Aug. 26, 1950 ATTORNEYPatented Mar. 24, 1953 TWO-PLY FABRIC FOR MATTRESS ES- OR THE LIKE JohnA. MacIntyrc, Barrington, It. I., assignor to U. S. Plush Mills, Inc.',a corporation of Rhode Island Application August 26, 1950, Serial No.181,665

3 Claims. (Cl. 139-410) This-invention relates to a two-ply fabric suchas may be woven on the usual plush loom.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a fabric which may beused fora mattress or seat by inflating the same.

Another object of this invention is to provide a two-ply fabric whichwill have the two plies tied together in the manner of tufting all Lin aweaving operation without the need of separate handling. 1 I

Another object of this invention is to provide a two-plyfabric which maybe inflated and which will have the plies limited in the amount thatthey may move one from the other as the pressure of the air is exertedin the space between the plies.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction, as will be more fully described andparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

' Figure 1 is a perspective view of the two plies of fabric shown asconnected together by groups of warp threads;

Figure 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view on substantially line 3--3 of Figure 2; v

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a fin hed cushion; and

Figure 5 is a, diagrammatic view of a modified weave fabric. I

In proceeding with this invention, I weave in a plush loom two plies offabric and provide connectingLth-readS extending warpwise of the fabricand woven alternately into the opposite plies, and I provide thesethreads in rows and group these threads leaving spaces of considerableextent between them so that the fabric is connected together in pillarsof threads located at widely spaced intervals. The two plies of fabricare then treated with some sort of coating material which makes themimpervious to air and then after their edges are sealed, they may beinflated which will provide a mattress or seat or cushion with a tuftedeffect by reason of the plies bulging outwardly between the pillars ofthreads which connect together at the spaced plies of fabric.

With reference to the drawings, I0 designates one fabric ply of wovenwarp and filling threads and I1 "another fabric ply of woven warp andfilling threads. As these plies are woven in a plush loom, the cutterwhich usually severs the connecting threads is removed and theconnecting threads designated I2 are woven as at I3 into the ply II andthen extend'to the ply II) where they are woven in, as .at I4. Thesewarpwise extending connecting threads then float over the inner surfaceof the ply In as at It and are woven again into the ply III at 'a spacedinterval from theweaving I4 as at It. They then extend across to theother ply I I where they are woven into this ply as at IT, float overthis ply H as at I8 and are woven in again as at I9 and then extendacross to be woven into the ply III as at 20 andso on along an extendedlength of the fabric.

The weaving in at the locations such as It is shown in greater detail inFigure 2 where a warp thread is designated 21 ofthe fabric I0 and thefilling threads thereof are designated 22. One of the connecting warpthreads I2 is shown as being woven in with the filling threads 22 in thearea I S and then extend across to be woven in with the filling threads2-3 which is also woven with the warp threads 24 of the ply I I. Thisweaving in in the areas such as I6 and I1 consists of each of the groupsof warp threads I2 weaving under three threads and over three threadsand then extending across to the other ply where a similar weaving takesplace, under three threads and over three threads. The warp I2 thenextends back to the area I-Ii where a similar procedure occurs and thenback to the area I! in the ply I I where a similar proceeding occurs andthen the warp threads I2 float as at I8 over a number of warp andfilling threads, possibly sixty-four in number and then repeats theoperation in th areas I 9 and 20. I r

In the group of warp threads there will be possibly twenty-four,although I have illustrated in V Figure 3 only nine of this group, thenumber being widely variant. The length of the connecting warp threadssuch as I2 between the plies of fabric may be anywhere from one-halfinch to four inches.

After the fabric is prepared, it is coated with a rubber-like materialtocause the same to be impervious to moisture and air and then the edgesare closed as at 21 in Fig. 4 and the same may be inflated by forcingair into the space between the plies of fabric. The pressure of the airwill tend to force the areas 25 between the rows of woven connectingthreads outwardly so that a tufting effect of the mattress, seat, orcushion provided is formed.

In some cases instead of the weave relation being shown as in Fig. 2,the warp thread 30 will be interwoven with one ply of fabric but passingunder one filling thread 3| and over three filling 1. A fabriccomprising two outer layers, 'ea'ch composed of interwoven warps andwefts which layers are interconnected by an intermediate set ofconnecting warps interwoven'into one of said layers and extendingtherefrom into the other layer and interwoven therein, said connecting,

warps being arranged in groups of a plurality of warps to form tiethreads interwoven in said layers at concentrated locations spaced fromeach other a distance greater than the distance of the space occupied-bythe warps of each group in a direction bothfwarpwise andfweftwise of thesaid outer layers, theportions of said connecting warps between theinterwoven portions thereof being floated along the inner surface ofsaid layers in the space between said interwoven portions of saidconnecting warps whereby said outer layers are connected to each otheronly at locations spaced from each other in all directions to produce atufting eifect when separation of the said outer layers is attempted.

2. A fabric as set forth in claim 1 wherein the connecting warps of eachgroup are in greater number weftwise than warpwise.

3. A fabric comprising two outer layers, each composed of interwovenwarps and wefts which layers are interconnected by an intermediate setof connecting warps interwoven into one of said layers and extendingtherefrom into the other layer and interwoven therein, said connectingwarps being arranged in groupsiof a plurality of warps to form tiethreads interwoven in said layers at concentrated locations spaced fromeach other a distance greater than the distance of the space occupied bythe warps of each group in a direction both 'warpwise and weftwise ofthe said outer layers, whereby said outer layers are connected to eachother only at locations spaced from each other in all directions toproduce a tufting effect when separation of said outer layers isattempted.

- JOHN A. MACINTYRE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:'

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,976,799 .Mangold Oct. 16, 19342,046,039 Schaar June 30, 1936 2,072,152 Blakeet a1. 1 Mar. 2, 19372,235,732. Sudell Mar. 18, 1941 2,357,164 Berg Aug. 29,1944 2,466,857Matwin et al. Apr. 12,1949 2,502,101 Morgan et a1 Mar. 28, 1950

